Free Cinderella Busted (The Cinderella Romances #1) by Petie McCarty Page B

enough, she feared she’d never find someone more perfect for her than Rhett. They traded secrets, too. Some painful. And when she’d unwittingly asked Rhett to divulge the secret of his success, his answer hadn’t been what she’d expected.
    The question had come late one night while the two of them lay curled up together on a chaise lounge on their balcony. Rhett had gone silent a long time, and finally confessed that whenever he’d felt like giving up on a project, he would close his eyes and imagine himself back in his uncle’s matchbox house in Indiantown. He would recall the stench of his uncle’s gin-soaked breath and visualize the gaunt man swaying slightly right before he took the all-too-frequent drunken swing at his nephew. The pain-filled image had forced Rhett to persevere and to move ahead, to get better, to further increase the distance between him and that pugilistic childhood. After his confession, Lily had hugged him tighter, and guilt over forcing him to remember had plagued her well into the night.
    Rhett had also taken her along to a formal business dinner, much to her trepidation. They had dined with six stodgy investors, there to haggle over a contractual agreement BDC–New York had on the table for a new resort in the Hamptons.
    Rhett said it was either take Lily with him or spend the evening away from her, which he was not willing to do. He beamed at the end of the evening and declared she had charmed the “old geezers” into agreeing to his terms, and Rhett assured her they would still be arguing if he hadn’t brought her along.
    For Lily, the week was the most romantic and the most exhausting she had ever had. She had to remain on her toes every second and wary enough to steer the conversation away from herself when it veered too close. Thankfully, she had admitted to Rhett from the get-go that she’d never been to New York, so she could keep the conversation littered with questions about the sights when she needed to, though her admission had given him pause.
    “You’re a design consultant, and you’ve never been to New York?” he’d asked, a bit astounded.
    “I mostly stick to the Miami and Palm Beach scene,” she had responded quickly. Which was true enough—just specialty trees, not designer dresses.
    They had spent most of their waking hours out and about the Big Apple, but their time alone in their hotel suite heated up quickly upon their return, with the two of them “necking like high school kids,” as Rhett put it.
    Lily was wavering. Every hour spent with Rhett was heaven, and when he held her in his arms, she melted like a chocolate bar on Miami Beach in July. She wanted him, plain and simple. Rhett made her ache deep inside with a desire she had never known. And the fact that he hadn’t pressed her made Lily want him all the more.
    Their wonderful week was drawing to a close. She hated the thought that her fairy tale was ending. Tonight, he would be taking her to a Broadway show— Beauty and the Beast .
    “For my little Disney freak,” he’d said when he returned from a meeting and presented her with the tickets.
    “You remembered I said that on our first date,” she whispered against his lips as she put her arms around his neck.
    She was definitely falling for Rhett, and tonight was Broadway. Tonight would be special. Maybe . . .
The clock on the mantel in the suite at the Waldorf Astoria chimed midnight when Lily and Rhett stepped inside. Rhett closed the door behind him, and before Lily could step away, he swept her into his arms. She came willingly. He kissed her—hard—the way he’d thought about doing all evening.
    She had enjoyed the restaurant and the Broadway show with the unfettered joy of a child, and he had been amazed by his contentment just to be with her. He had cuddled her in the cab ride from Broadway and thought to steal a kiss then, but her blue eyes were wide with excitement, drinking in the lights and sounds of Manhattan just as she’d